Read a historical political cartoon: symbols, labels and message
Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence
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Join, or Die, 1751 to 1754 (cards A to D). Card A, a summary in our words from the Library of Congress guide to Chronicling America: on May 9, 1754, in the Pennsylvania Gazette, Benjamin Franklin published the "Join or Die" woodcut, the first political cartoon published in a newspaper in America. It shows America as a snake cut into pieces. Before the French and Indian War, Franklin hoped to persuade the colonies to unite against the French and their Native allies. Card B, a description in our words of the picture: a snake is cut into eight pieces. Each piece carries the initials of a colony or region, from N.E. (New England) at the head to S.C. (South Carolina) at the tail. Under the snake are the words "JOIN, or DIE." Card C, a summary in our words from the National Park Service: Franklin designed the woodcut to encourage solidarity against the French. The park service says colonists understood the favorable biblical and mythological references to snakes that Franklin was making, and that Franklin launched the rattlesnake as a symbol of the American colonies in these early years. Card D, a summary in our words from the same Library of Congress guide: on May 9, 1751, three years earlier, the Gazette printed a piece signed "Americanus," a pseudonym of Franklin, suggesting that rattlesnakes be sent to England in response to England's shipping of convicts to the colonies.
Card A says Franklin published the woodcut in his own newspaper. What does that tell a reader about it, Ari asks?
- An individual publisher made it to persuade readers, so it is an argument
- A copy of an earlier London cartoon that the Gazette reprinted
- Congress ordered it printed to unite the colonies against France
- A government agency made it to record events for later historians to read
What does the snake cut into pieces stand for in card B, Esme asks?
- A French army cut apart by the colonists in battle
- One colony split into eight small towns that no longer talk
- The colonies divided from one another, who must join to survive
- A real snake that bit travelers on the roads of Pennsylvania
Why does the caption set two outcomes side by side for the reader, Jun asks?
- It orders the colonies to join Britain's army or be punished
- It sets a choice: unite and survive, or stay divided and fall
- It warns that a snake will bite colonists who cross the Atlantic
- It gives two separate jobs to two colonies on opposite ends
A student writes: "The cartoon shows the colonies had agreed to unite in 1754." How strong is that claim, given cards A and B, Kira asks?
- Weak: card A says Franklin hoped to persuade them, so they had not yet united
- Strong: card C says colonists understood its meaning, so they agreed to join
- Strong: card B shows the colonies joined together as one snake
- Weak: card A says the cartoon was not printed in a newspaper
A student writes: "Franklin made the 1754 cartoon to oppose British rule." How strong is that claim, given card A, Luz asks?
- Strong: card C says colonists knew what the snake stood for
- Strong: card D shows Franklin was angry at England in 1751
- Strong: the same snake was used against Britain twenty years later in 1774
- Weak: card A says it urged unity against the French and their Native allies
Card A says Franklin aimed at the French and their Native allies; card C says the French. How do they fit, Milo asks?
- They disagree about the French, so neither card can be trusted as evidence
- They are the same word for word, so one is a copy
- Card C shows card A is wrong about the Native allies
- Both say unity against the French; card A adds their Native allies
Card C is a National Park Service summary. What does it add, and what is its limit, Noah asks?
- A report by someone who saw the woodcut printed in Philadelphia in 1754
- Franklin's own explanation of why he chose the snake
- A modern federal reading of the symbol, not something written in 1754
- A newspaper advertisement for the woodcut from 1754
Cards D (1751) and A (1754) are both from Franklin's newspaper. What do they show together, Pia asks?
- Franklin stopped using snakes after 1751
- Both pieces urged the same action from the colonies
- The 1751 piece was the same woodcut as the 1754 one, printed twice
- Franklin used snake imagery more than once for a political point
Is the woodcut good evidence that the colonies faced real danger from the French in 1754, Ren asks?
- No: a cartoon cannot be used as evidence about the past
- Yes: Franklin was famous, so whatever he drew must have been right about the French
- It shows what Franklin wanted readers to believe; other sources must check
- Yes: a printed picture is proof that the danger was real
How might a colonist and a French officer each read the woodcut, Zee asks?
- Neither could read it, since it carried no words
- The French officer would read it as an order to Britain
- The colonist a call to unite; the French officer a threat to French plans
- Both would read it the same way, as just a warning about snakes in the woods
